I can definitely relate to the spreadsheet route—I initially thought QuickBooks would solve everything, but it felt unnecessarily complicated (and pricey) for just a few properties. I've stuck with Excel myself, mostly out of habit, but Google Sheets sounds like a smart move for easy access. The accountant approval is a genuine win...tax season stress isn't something any of us enjoy dealing with. Glad you found a system that works for you.
I've bounced between Excel and Google Sheets myself for years. QuickBooks always felt like bringing a bazooka to a knife fight—way too much firepower for just a handful of properties. I eventually settled on Sheets because I kept forgetting to update my Excel file on different devices, and the syncing was a lifesaver. My accountant didn't exactly cheer, but she did stop sighing heavily during our meetings, so I'll take that as approval...
I've been down the Excel vs. Sheets rabbit hole too—never even considered QuickBooks, because yeah, bazooka is about right. But here's my question: how do you handle version control in Sheets? I mean, syncing is great and all, but I've had moments where someone (usually me, let's be honest) accidentally overwrites something important, and then it's a mini heart attack trying to figure out what changed and when. Does Sheets have some hidden magic for tracking changes that I'm missing?
And speaking of accountants, mine still sighs heavily no matter what I use. Pretty sure that's just part of their training...
Sheets actually has a pretty decent built-in version history feature—it's just not immediately obvious. If you click on "File" and then "Version history," you can pull up a timeline of all the edits made to the sheet. It even highlights who made each change, which is super helpful when you're trying to track down that one mysterious edit (usually mine, too...). You can revert back to earlier versions or just peek at them to see what changed.
That said, it's not perfect. I've had moments where the changes were so subtle it took some detective work to figure out exactly what went wrong. Still beats Excel's manual saving nightmare, though.
And yeah, accountants sighing heavily seems universal. Pretty sure they teach that in Accounting 101 along with the art of politely judging your spreadsheet skills...
I've used Sheets' version history a few times myself when dealing with property taxes and budgeting. It's definitely handy, especially when you're juggling multiple years of tax info and trying to figure out why your numbers suddenly look off. Usually turns out I accidentally overwrote something important while half-asleep at midnight... again.
But yeah, subtle changes can be a pain to track down. One time I spent nearly an hour squinting at two versions of the same sheet, convinced something major had changed. Turned out I'd just accidentally formatted a cell differently and it threw off my whole visual comparison. Felt pretty silly after that one.
As for accountants sighing heavily—can confirm. When I first bought my house, I tried showing my accountant my homemade spreadsheet for property tax estimates. The look on his face was priceless. Pretty sure he mentally filed me under "hopeless case," but hey, at least he didn't charge extra for emotional distress.
Honestly though, navigating property taxes is always going to be a bit of a headache no matter what tools you use. Sheets makes it bearable, but there's always that moment every year when I open the county's assessment notice and brace myself for the inevitable confusion. At this point, I've just accepted mild frustration as part of homeownership...
